There's not much to be happy about driving around Huddersfield's increasingly jammed up and pothole riddled roads.

With public transport expensive and unreliable, congestion is on the rise as people continue to stick with the good old motor car to get around.

But with traffic queues costing the economy millions and causing worrying levels of pollution and misery, transport chiefs are under pressure to get our vehicles moving again.

After years of putting in restrictions to make traffic slow down, highways are now being opened up to allow traffic to speed up.

Kirklees Council has been limited to what it can do in recent years due to unprecedented cuts to its funding by government.

But now, a £1billion transport fund being managed by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority on behalf of all five councils, is helping to provide some investment to the area.

Here's some of the biggest traffic busting schemes that will be on motorists' lips during 2019.

Cooper Bridge and Bradley Road/Wakefield Road

Traffic in Leeds Road at Cooper Bridge (Image: Huddersfield Examiner)

This section of the A62 is a bottle neck for most of the day. During the morning and evening rush hour commutes it can be a real headache as stressed out motorists battle to get either in or out of Huddersfield.

As a key distributor to the M62 and the main route between Huddersfield and North Kirklees, Cooper Bridge is only going to get worse.

With Kirklees Council planning up to 2,000 homes just up the road on land currently used as Bradley Park golf course, the council has fast-tracked this scheme to the top of its priority list.

Plans were revealed in early December showing a link road from the bottom of Bradley and a new bridge over the river and rail lines running adjacent to Wakefield Road – the route to the motorway. The consultation on the various options, which may or may not include making most of the route a dual carriageway, is continuing until January 18.

Meanwhile, plans to remove the actual Cooper Bridge roundabout to streamline traffic flows are also in the pipeline. The new junction would separate A62 traffic from Wakefield Road traffic, much of which would be using the above bypass.

Construction is slated for 2021 to 2023. Hopefully it will be worth it!

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Huddersfield ring road

The section of Castlegate, Huddersfield, that is due to be altered

A plan to tackle the queues on the Castlegate section of the ring road, past the leisure centre, was revealed last March. The work was due to take place this year but has been delayed due to gas works.

Council highways experts said people were "hogging" the inside lane. It is thought a large amount of motorists heading for the Halifax Road exit are using the inside lane, making the queue far longer for people turning left into Springwood or the A640 towards the M62 westbound.

The middle lane will be signposted and marked as the lane to use for Halifax Road and the M62 eastbound.

Kirklees Council says the work will now take place between May and September 2019.

Leeds Road

Heavy traffic is the norm on Leeds Road

Most of us approach Leeds Road knowing we'll hit queues at most times of the day. With its cluster of retail parks, car dealerships and fast food outlets, the pain of driving down it never subsides. And with a canal on one side and the river on the other, there are very few alternative routes to take if you get stuck in a jam.

To address the perpetual congestion Kirklees Council is pumping £8m into the busiest stretch of the A62, which will see seven projects take place from the town centre up to Old Fieldhouse Lane, just past Huddersfield Town's PPG Canalside facility. The biggest change will see the gyratory around the Great Northern Retail Park removed and a simpler all-new junction installed.

The junctions being tackled include:

Southgate/Northumberland Street

Lower Fitzwilliam Street by the Great Northern Retail Park

Thistle Street/Hillhouse Lane by the Yorkshire Rose pub and the BMW dealership

St Andrew's Road by Carpets Direct

Bradley Mills Road - the turning to the John Smith's Stadium and Leeds Road Retail Park

Red Doles Lane - the next junction along Leeds Road

Old Fieldhouse Lane by Enterprise rent-a-car

Consultation has finished and more detailed designs are due to be revealed by March. Whether work will begin in 2019 is not yet known.

The North Kirklees Orbital

2019 should be the year we find out if this is going to be a reality. News of the plan to revive the idea of having a major link road between the M62 and M1 first broke in 2016. Two-and-a-half years on and we don't know much more than we did in July 2016. Clr Peter McBride has vowed it is still in the running for government funding and still on Kirklees Council's wish list of game changing road projects.

The potential route of the bypass is still a closely guarded secret although it appears it will be in the south of the north Kirklees area, potentially along the route of the river Calder.

North Kirklees Orbital area of interest

If it is given the green light it will be a boon to the constantly clogged high streets of Mirfield and Ravensthorpe.

Holmfirth town centre

Mystery surrounds what on earth is going to be done here. The council says Victoria Street, the main road in the prime tourism and shopping area of the town, is heavily congested as it links between the east and the A6204, which feeds Huddersfield and routes towards Manchester.

The council says a new highway link will be built to reduce the need for vehicles to use Victoria Street. Looking at a map of Holmfirth you do wonder how this can be achieved without the demolition of something significant. Local people believe the only possible solution is re-aligning Bridge Lane - a narrow twisty cut through over the river behind Co-op - to make it suitable for HGVs.

Could an upgraded Bridge Lane be the solution for Holmfirth's traffic woes? (Image: Google)

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Mass Rapid Transit

Leeds' push for a solution to its woeful public transport situation could benefit the long neglected passenger in neighbouring north Kirklees. It was revealed last month that officials are plotting a new 'mass rapid transit' system with three lines out of Leeds city centre, one of which could snake into Cleckheaton and on to Dewsbury.

A map of potential new 'mass transit' routes for Leeds and West Yorkshire

The proposal is at a very early stage with no one being prepared to even say whether we're talking about trams, tram-trains, bendy buses or some other form of vehicle. Whatever it is, anything is welcome as the main routes through Heckmondwike, Mirfield, Batley and Dewsbury are some of the most congested in West Yorkshire.